Kemalism: Difference between revisions

Saffet Engin, who described Atatürk as the Great Genius and hailed him as the creator of the Turkish race at the beginning of his book in which he analyzed the Kemalist revolution, states in another chapter of a book he wrote that there was very little racial mixing in Anatolia. He claims that only 5.5% of dolichocephalic elements are encountered in anthropological researches in Anatolia and that a clean race type is dominant. Although he states that the concept of nation is not limited to race, Saffet Engin, who believes that racial superiority is a fact, argues that the dominant race also gives the nation its character. Approaching the subject from this perspective, Saffet Engin also claims that it has been scientifically proven that the Turkish character cannot be compared with any other nation. As can be seen, Saffet Engin, who does not exclude the concept of race in the definition of nation, speaks easily of racial superiority. Although this is not an approach that dominates both his own works and the general idea of ​​the period, the presence of these racist elements in his various writings differentiates Saffet Engin's stance. However, racism was rejected in the 1935 CHP Party Programme. In other words, if he had conveyed these ideas to Atatürk, he would have been rejected.